Interactive Arts

TECHNOLOGY + CREATIVE EXPLORATION

KCAI’s Department of Converging Media’s innovative program in Interactive Arts views technology as a medium for artistic expression far out-reaching its original intent. Through a wide array of electives, students become versed in software coding, physical computing and sensors, system dynamics, feedback and rapid prototyping, user testing, and experiential design. Students are given the opportunity to integrate and experiment with digital as well as analog media to produce highly engaging and compelling works. Using these emerging technologies alongside video, audio, and virtual or augmented reality also allows students to produce site-specific installation, performance, and interactive environments. The curriculum incorporates classes in Animation, Filmmaking, Photography and Sound Art. Sound and its production acts as a foundation for an understanding of computation, social space, cognition, and thinking in systems.

Major studies culminate during the senior year in studio courses devoted to producing projects and a completed thesis work. Students follow through on conceptual brainstorming, sketching, model-making, preliminary builds, production schedule, and enfolding feedback for refinement and a fully functioning experience.

This approach prepares students to enter the field with an informed perspective, strong portfolio and well-rounded sense of artistic and technical confidence.

Full-time Faculty

Tom Lewis

Associate Professor & Chair

Tom Lewis is Chair of the Department of Converging Media including Photography, Filmmaking, Animation and Interactive Arts. He taught photography and new media at KCAI in 2001 through 2003 and joined the Foundation faculty in 2005, becoming Director of the School of the Foundation Year in 2012-2013 before moving to the Chairs position in the Department of Converging Media in 2013. He joined the KCAI faculty after having taught at the University of Washington School of Art, Seattle. While there, he also served as an assistant to Rod Slemmons at Crux Photographic Restoration and he assisted Michael Van Horn, curator for “After Art – Rethinking 150 Years of Photography,” at the Joseph and Elaine Monson Collection. He was co-founder and manager of CORE 317, an alternative space in Denver, and completed an internship at the International Center of Photography in New York. Lewis studied at KCAI on a Presidential Merit Scholarship and went on to earn a B.F.A. degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. degree from the University of Washington, where he held the Jane and David Davis Fellowship and Parnasuss Endowment. Tom is interested in the intersection of early lens based drawing and the materiality of photography. He works in both photography and large-scale graphite drawings. His work has been exhibited at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, among others and is represented in a number of private collections.

Dwight Frizzell

Professor

Dwight Frizzell, an alumnus of KCAI, is an internationally recognized artist whose interdisciplinary work combines video, performance, installation, music, audio art, and writing. His projects emphasize research and a commonality between the fine and performing arts. Frizzell’s work about his boyhood neighbor, Harry S. Truman, was featured in the Peabody-awarded “Lost and Found Sound” series broadcast on National Public Radio. His art pieces have been shown at major international galleries. Currently, Frizzell is developing an opera based on the life of Charles Darwin. In addition to his B.F.A. degree from KCAI, he holds a terminal fine arts degree in Sound Design from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

David Overholt

Associate Professor

David Overholt’s studies and research have covered areas of art, graphic design, technology, communications, urban architecture, psychology, sociology, philosophy, theology, and more. His main areas of focus include web and new media applications, rapid prototyping, usability testing, and user-centered and experiential design. Overholt received his B.A. degree in graphic design from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and a Master of Professional Studies from Tisch School of the Arts’ Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University.

Chris Riebschlager

Lecturer

Chris Riebschlager is a creative technologist with nearly two decades of experience designing and developing interactive work. He has created interactive installations for museums, stadiums, corporate headquarters and events throughout much of the country. Chris enjoys exploring new techniques in generative and algorithmic art and is an advocate for open source software development.

Jonathon Robertson

Lecturer

Jon Robertson is a composer and sound designer. His original music has been featured in Kansas City and regional theatre productions. He holds an M.M. in Music Composition and an M.F.A. in Theatre Sound Design from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He currently also adjuncts at UMKC and Missouri Western State University.

Jason Zeh

Lecturer

Classes

Once you declare your major, interactive arts students take the following core courses as they progress from sophomore to senior year. For additional electives and liberal arts courses download the complete Course Catalog.